


Bother Anyone Else

by marsakat



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Basketball, Cute, Enemies to Friends, Fist Fights, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 20:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7005427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler is overly aggressive when it comes to playing basketball and Josh just came to have a good time.  He also kinda hates this kid who keeps singing Backstreet Boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bother Anyone Else

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: bold and fearless universe, but they meet playing on rival basketball teams because tyler fouled josh and they got in a fight. benched for the next couple of games, they decide to get to know each other and become friends

_"Tyler when you’re not practicing someone else is and when you meet that someone they are going to destroy you"_

Josh Dun was not that person.  Josh was one of those kids that played every sport throughout his youth because that’s just what everyone did.  He was good at sports in the sense he was coordinated, strong, and a little faster than the rest of the kids, but he wasn’t even halfway as dedicated to basketball as Tyler was.  And while talent and natural skill helps a lot with being good at something, constant labor is actually the important factor.

So it may have been kinda screwed up what Tyler’s mom said, but at least she instilled this drive within him to work hard.  He was homeschooled so a lot of the day was spent practicing, but at least through the town and different programs he was able to play with other kids.  Tyler did his baskets and met kids through the teams, but his identity was tied to the game.

They finally met one day through the county recreation department’s basketball program, but were on opposite teams.  Tyler knew he was the best on his team, while Josh just was comfortable in his abilities.  They were paired off, and when they squared up on the line, Josh offered a smile that Tyler didn’t return.  It threw Josh off completely, because this was supposed to be fun and here was this skinny kid glaring at him like they were in the NBA finals.

It was the most exhausting game of his life.  The kid dodged and ducked around him, practically dancing away from every block Josh made.  It was embarrassing how good he was, and while Josh’s emotional wellbeing wasn’t tied to the outcome of the game, he found himself growing annoyed at this Tyler kid who was trying way too hard.  It was infuriating how fierce Tyler was and Josh just wanted to shove him to the ground.

The anger spurred him on to attacking with more vigor, even managing to get the ball away from Tyler.  Josh knew he was fast, so he sprinted up the court and managed to make a basket.  Apparently Tyler took personal offense to this, and the next time the ball was passed to Josh, he blatantly collided with him, knocking Josh to the ground.

Josh bit down hard on his tongue, not expecting such an obvious foul to happen to him.  He yelled a muffled “Hey!” through the blood swelling.  The referee’s whistle blew, but Josh was already back on his feet, rage coursing through his body.  He didn’t feel the pain, nor noticed the coach rushing to check if he was okay.  All Josh could see was red, and Tyler’s angry face, and he wanted to tear him apart.

Without thinking, Josh flew at the younger boy and headbutted him in the chest.  Tyler went down, all the wind knocked out of his lungs and Josh leapt on top.  Both started swinging fists and wrestled back and forth.  Josh’s face was already covered in his own blood and Tyler’s nose had begun to bleed by the time the refs and coaches dragged them apart.

Mass chaos had erupted, their teammates were cheering, while they continued to struggle to get at each other.  Both their dads came down from the stands to force them to calm down.  It was then that they knew they were both completely screwed and definitely grounded for a few weeks.

They had to apologize to each other, though both said the words with as much venom as they could muster while clutching ice packs to the respective injuries.  The department decided not to kick them off the teams, but instead they had to sit on the benches and clean up after the games. 

For the first week neither spoke to or acknowledged each other, except when Josh laughed at Tyler for slipping on spilt Diet Coke.  Both had matching black eyes, that they looked at with pride. Josh thought Tyler was weird, and Tyler thought Josh thought too highly of himself.

Josh also wanted to fight Tyler again because Tyler wouldn’t stop singing Backstreet Boys while they swept up popcorn under the bleachers.

“Can you not?” Josh said through gritted teeth, which only spurred Tyler to sing louder.  If Josh was honest, he recognized Tyler was good at singing, but he wasn’t feeling so generous right now.

After two weeks of Tyler singing nothing but pop hits, Josh finally asked through gritted teeth, “If you’re going to sing, can you sing something that’s good?”

“Like what? I know some songs from church.”

“No,” Josh heard enough of that music on Sundays and during youth group, “You seriously don’t know anything else?”

Tyler shook his head and turned away on the pretense of dumping a pan full of popcorn into the trashcan.  They didn’t talk again that day, but the next, Josh shoved a CD case into Tyler’s hands.  Tyler turned it over and read the scrawl on the back; “josH’S AWESOME MIX”

“What’s this?”

“I, um, well since you said you don’t really know that much music, I made you a mixtape of some good songs,” Josh bounced on his toes, realizing how utterly _friendly_ this was and he’d spent two weeks as this kid’s enemy.  Now here he was making a mixtape for him.  It was this kid’s fault he missed not one, but two birthday parties because he was grounded.

Tyler gaped at him, and Josh kept talking, losing control of his nervous mouth, “It’s some Relient-K, Green Day, and um like 3 Death Cab for Cutie songs.  I put some Rage Against the Machine cuz everyone should have some music to be angry too.”

“Wow,” Tyler said hoarsely, thinking it was a little too strong to add ‘no one has ever done this for me’ to the boy that had been straight-up hostile all the time.

They didn’t mention the mixtape or even speak for the rest of the night…again.  Two days passed before they saw each other for their last day of punishment.  Tyler smiled at Josh as soon as he arrived, and they started talking casually while sweeping.  It made the hours pass by quicker, and both of them realized that maybe they should’ve done this earlier.  Before they knew it, it was time to go for the last time.

“I forgot to thank you for the CD.  I’ve been listening to it nonstop,” Tyler said as they waited outside for their parents to pick them up.

Josh smiled his first true smile in front of Tyler, and he thought it was awesome.

“I’m glad you like it!  If you want to hear more music, you should, uh, come over to my house some time.”

“Yeah and if you want to get schooled in one-on-one basketball or Mario Kart, come over to mine!”

“Alright. Bring it on.”  A few minutes later, both sat grinning in their respective mom’s cars with a scribbled phone number on ripped notebook paper, and the opportunity for a new friend.  Maybe first impressions aren’t the ones that last, and a fistfight results in a lifelong bond.

**Author's Note:**

> prompt me @ teeentyonepilots on tumblr!!!


End file.
